Want to sell more? Hack your customer’s brains (pun intended)

Its probably one of the most obvious things to say but sales is always about the second person. The buyer is always on the top and the seller always a step below just replying to the needs of the user. And yet somehow it’s the seller who has to do the more work and keep the consumer happy and satisfied. He has to understand what the user wants and cater to his every need in a jiffy.

Today lets discuss a few tips that take a sneak peak into the minds of our customers. Once we know what they are thinking, we know how and what they want.

1. Do not offer too many choices

Well we all know about analysis paralysis, where you can’t pick anything just because there is too much to choose from.

The person usually walks away from your site frustrated and confused because he came to buy five things but he is no longer sure whether he wants to buy five or twenty five now! He can’t choose one thing particularly and hence he just quits in anguish. That is “Analysis Paralysis.” Yes, they just have a term for everything now! Exasperating, isn’t it!

What does that mean exactly? No I am not suggesting that of the 50 products you are selling, you eliminate 45 of those and leave only 5 products to buy from on your page. That would be stupid and really weird for your site.

Here comes the method of the breadcrumb search. Here you pick one path and then move on to one path in that chosen path. Then choose another path in that chosen path and so on until you arrive at the product you wish to buy.

You categorize different brands under a limited number of choice umbrellas. Instead of telling people “here’s all of my stuff,” you say, “here are 5 categories of stuff.” Pick which category is right for you, then pick the item in that category that’s right for you.

Look at it like a Supermarket. When you walk into the store, you know there’s a fruit/vegetables area, a meat area, a dairy area, and so on. In each little section, there’s thousands of products to choose from. But they make the decision easy on you by tossing them into similar categories.

Online the same thing applies.

When you’re designing your site, don’t simply share 1 million different categories of what you want to sell. Instead, focus on the “main” areas of your items and let the users choose accordingly.

2. Visual Recognition

Did you know color can increase brand recognition by 80%? And brand recognition directly links to consumer confidence? Well it is rather silly if you ask me but it is also true!

Every user has a sort of visual frame of reference whilst assessing any website they visit. Some colors make them comfortable and sure about the site while some are just plain dry offs that users cannot relate to or more importantly trust very well. Not only colors but pictures and images that one can easily understand are definitely a very useful tool in grabbing the eyes of potential customers. They would rather go for something their eyes approve of than reading a description and taking it as per the word.

So appeal to this sense and sales will grow manifold without a doubt!

3. Mystery enhances your consumer base

Sometimes when a company surfaces on the news or the internet regarding some really surprising piece of news which is completely out-of-the-blue, we usually ditch everything and just go check that site out. We really want to know something new all the time, you may call it hunger for gossip but frankly its just human curiosity.

Take for instance Apple, that is one of the most secretive companies ever.

Haven’t you seen loads of websites dedicated to speculating about Apple products, Apple features, and anything else that’s Apple?

Well their secrets create mystery… which in turn sparks speculation in the blogosphere… which leads to free publicity for Apple… and thus more sales.

So do you have a “secret formula” for your company or an exciting piece of news that might make people gasp in awe as “Whoa! That is really trendy. I guess I should give these new creative minds a chance to impress me!” You could also have a proprietary way of doing things. If so, instead of being forthcoming and revealing the entire magic, withhold some information and watch your fans speculate… thus sending you more sales.

4. Enemies are Important

When you’re using the web to generate leads and sales, you have one main goal… and that’s to make your customers absolutely love you.

But that love comes with a price. When there are people who love what you do, there will be people that hate what you do, too. I know this sounds dramatic, but it’s true.

I know changing people’s minds is damn near impossible, so instead of wasting time trying to “change” someone, I go after the people who already like me… and focus on making them happy.

But what does this have to do with getting more sales?

That part is easy.

If you nurture your best customers and readers, they’ll turn into evangelists. They’ll turn into your street team of people who tell everyone to read and buy your products.

But where does the enemy part fit in? That is actually the tricky part.

The thing is, you don’t need a physical enemy, you need to be against a belief or an idea.

Solidifying your unique selling proposition is as much about deciding who your ideal customer is not as much as it is about defining who they are.

You’ll never find your true voice without something to stand against. This doesn’t have to be another brand, but in order to divide your ideal customers into your “camp,” you need to be against some ideal, belief, or perception, the way Apple was against “boring” PC users in their ads.